Tips to save $$$ when mailing small items through the USPS

[geezerbutler]

This can be filed under "Saving Money"

Right now everyone is buying or selling something.....

Recently I wanted to send USPS money orders to several individuals to purchase a couple of things.

I wanted to be able to prove that the person received my money orders with delivery confirmation. hereafter referred to as "DC"

This is to protect me, the buyer, just like it protects me the seller when I use DC to ship something out to someone who's purchased an item from me.

In the past I have done this using priority mail...which costs way to effin much.

Then I received a first class package , (I think it was one from TheLandlord) which happened to be a 9 X 12 envelope or something of that nature and I noticed that it had a delivery confirmation sticker on it.


I asked myself how could this be?

I didn't know that you could have Delivery Confirmation on first class mail.

So I asked how a 1st class package got DC on it.

Get this, if you stick an envelope in a small mailer and tell them you want DC with it they will tell you "NO" ....... typical USPS BS

But you can send the envelope inside the mailer and get DC if you stick a empty box inside as filler .

See, the package has to have some girth to it. Mass now, not weight, or maybe I could even say that it can't be completely flat.

WORKAROUND .... take an empty paperclip box or anything similar in size and put it in the package to send your payment.

I have found small white plastic covered (Water resistant) 6x9 envelopes at Fred's for $.50 each. These work great.

The way I'm doing it costs a little over $2.50 including the mailer ,goes up to about 14 ounces maybe?, and proves it got there in case you need it for those pesky postal investigations.

If you do priotity mail it costs nearly $5 for the same tiny little letter.

Remember this works for all small items, such as light mounts, lights, handgrips, and other simliar items.


No, it won't get there as fast but I'd say most of the time it's just about as fast as priority mail at about half the cost.

I Hope someone goes "Damn, I didn't know that"

Thanks Landlord.

[MichaelJ]

"Damn, I didn't know that" ... this will come in handy shortly for me. Thanks to you and Lanlord.

[miser]

Ive never had a problem getting DC or Sig. Con on anything Ive sent out whether it be a simple letter or flat, none have been priortity mail to this date.

[geezerbutler]

I meant to post YMMV , or it depends on the specific ass/non ass -hole at your particular location.

What was the revised figure for the USPS *Cough* income for fiscal 2008?
lOh yeah losses were down to $3 billion from $4 billion.


How is this relevant..........Hmmmmm..................I'm not even sure but it certainly merits a mention.

At my location If I would have done what I said in front of the clerk she wouldn't have let me send the letter...she would've said "there's nothing in that box, you're using it as filler" to which I would have thought of replying "you're very observant, cur", before my brain to mouth filter kicked in.

She's just a hag...for no good reason.


Whatever postal rules/regulations are don't determine whether or not they are enforced or even known about from PO to PO.

Quick! Someone else pull the regulation on this.

I'm just going on what I was told at my location and undoubtedly there are other locations with similarly equipped automatons.

For those that have never experienced this Beula Balbricker type of clerk, you sir are lucky. Link here http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084522/

MISER, I'm gonna have to check your papers.......you must be USPS OIG :p

[miser]

MISER, I'm gonna have to check your papers.......you must be USPS OIG :p



Not an OIG...............................................but I am a carrier.............:p

Absolutly correct about office to office regulations though....seems no clerk is on the same page even within the same city and we as the customer have to set them straight all the time.

[markm]

but I am a carrier.............:p


NEWMAN! :mad:

[chadbag]

OK

First class LETTERS can't have the delivery confirmation. First class PARCELS can.

What defines this is the thickness. If it is at least 3/4" thick at the thickest point then it is classified as a First Class Parcel. Note that the first ounce of a First Class Parcel is much more than that of a letter but much less than priority mail.

I send stuff out all the time this way. Usually small items that people order. I always have the delivery confirmation on there. It costs 17 cents to add to a first class parcel when you do it through online postage places or the USPS website btw which is much cheaper than the one you pay for at the post office.

I have even sent plain letters this way with a packing peanut in to make it thick enough. I had problems with Comcast posting payments a week after they received them. I send in a few payments this way to prove when they were getting them.

I usually use simple bubble mailers but have done the letter thing in a standard #10 enveloper with the packing peanuts (2-3) inside as well to get it to qualify as a parcel...

I don't work at the PO but I ship thousands of dollars a year through the PO and have learned more than I ever wanted to know about the PO.

Btw, they cannot refuse to send a letter in an empty box "because you are using it as a filler." Postal regulations say that any first class mail that is thicker than 3/4" is considered a parcel, even if it is just a normal envelope with a ton of correspondence folded and stuck inside. If you could get it closed and it was more than 3/4" that is what they would then charge at the first class parcel rate.

Chad
eguns.com

[Tom_Jones]

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